S.F. museum whistle-blower bounced from her job

Dede Wilsey poses for a portrait with her dog Dazzle at her San Francisco home in September.

Dede Wilsey poses for a portrait with her dog Dazzle at her San...

San Francisco Fine Arts Museums whistle-blower Michele Gutierrez is out of a job — and it happened soon after we revealed that she had gone to the city and the state attorney general with allegations of financial misconduct involving powerful museums board chair and chief executive Dede Wilsey.

Gutierrez was the museums’ chief financial officer until spring, when Wilsey ordered a staff shakeup and gave her a reduced title as finance director.

On Oct. 16, we reported that Gutierrez had filed her complaint with the city controller and Attorney General Kamala Harris, saying Wilsey had improperly ordered that $450,000 in museum money be paid to an ailing staffer.

Four days later, according to our sources, a museum attorney phoned Gutierrez’s lawyer and brother Bill Gutierrez, asking whether his sister preferred to resign or be fired. His answer: Michele Gutierrez had no reason to resign.

The following day, sources say, Michele Gutierrez — who already was on family leave to care for her cancer-stricken mother — got a voice mail from museum higher-ups saying she was being placed on administrative leave.

Within hours, Fine Arts Museums acting director Richard Benefield met with staffers and informed them that Gutierrez would not be returning to the nonprofit that oversees the two city-owned museums — the de Young in Golden Gate Park and Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park. He said the Fine Arts Museums would begin the search for her replacement.

It’s not clear what whistle-blower protections Gutierrez had as an employee of the nonprofit, if any. Gutierrez wasn’t a government employee, and her dismissal came after a consultant hired by the museums concluded she had not been unfairly demoted.

Both Gutierrez and her attorney brother declined to comment. They’ve been attending to funeral arrangements for their mother, who recently died.

Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

The de Young Museum is seen on Tuesday, October 6, 2015 in San Francisco, Calif.

The de Young Museum is seen on Tuesday, October 6, 2015 in San...

Public relations consultant Amanda Duckworth, speaking on behalf of Wilsey and the museums, wouldn’t discuss the Gutierrez situation. “The museums do not comment on individual employee matters,” she said.

Michele Gutierrez’s whistle-blower complaint concerned Wilsey’s instructions to her to pay $450,000 in museum funds to an ailing former museum staffer, Bill Huggins, without first getting board approval.

Huggins was an $82,000-a-year city stationary engineer assigned to the museums until he suffered a heart attack and retired in September 2014, records show. He has since collected an annual pension of $56,580.

Wilsey told Gutierrez she was getting approval from the 46-member board of trustees for the payment, sources said. However, soon after the check went out in May 2014, Gutierrez learned from members of the board’s finance committee that they knew nothing about the payment, sources said.

Museum officials said Gutierrez had approved the payment and described it as “disability severance.”

The unorthodox payment led to the resignations of two prominent museum board members, philanthropist Bernard Osher and financial services executive Jack McDonald, according to sources.

Photo: Steve Dykes, Getty Images

Raiders owner Mark Davis wants any new stadium to have a parking lot, but no other development.

Raiders owner Mark Davis wants any new stadium to have a parking...

Kickoff: Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf told NFL owners in New York that she would have a financing plan for a new Raiders stadium within two months, before the league decides whether the team can move to Los Angeles.

The owners are expected to wait until after the Super Bowl in February to figure out which of three teams — the Raiders, St. Louis Rams or San Diego Chargers — will be given the green light to move to L.A.

The league, however, made it clear to Schaaf at her meeting Wednesday that any stadium plan will have to be approved by the Raiders.

That is not going to be easy.

For starters, there’s the issue of land. Schaaf is looking at making the stadium part of a larger development, then using the money generated by the new businesses to pay off the stadium debt.

However, team owner Mark Davis wants a parking lot next to the stadium, nothing more.

“He’s been very clear about his passion for tailgating,” said Oakland Councilman Larry Reid, who sat in on recent meetings with the Raiders.

Schaaf also has to keep the A’s happy. She doesn’t have an answer for how to do that, but has long said the team would be better off in a new ballpark downtown or at the Howard Terminal at the port.

“It’s complicated, with a lot of moving parts,” Schaaf said.

“I’m not saying it’s going to have a happy ending, but I’m going to do my best.”

It ought to be an interesting two months.

Photo: Associated Press

File - In this Sept. 21, 1978 file photo, Carol Doda performs at the Condor Theater in San Francisco. Doda, the legendary stripper who jiggled in America's first topless bar more than 50 years ago, has died in San Francisco of complications related to kidney failure, friends confirmed. She died Monday, Nov. 9, 2015 at age 78. (AP Photo/File)

File - In this Sept. 21, 1978 file photo, Carol Doda performs at...

In passing: “Being an icon is kind of tough,” said state Democratic Party Chairman John Burton after we broke the news to him of the passing of his friend — and yes, onetime girlfriend — Carol Doda.

As Burton tells it, he was fresh out of law school and working as a bartender at Bimbo’s in North Beach when he first met Doda, then a cocktail waitress down the street at the Condor club.

“And that was before the silicone,” he said, referring to the breast enhancements that would give Doda 44Ds and propel her to topless stardom.

Burton believes that Doda’s fame came at the price of a normal social life.

“She was just a very sweet kid,” he said. “But I truly don’t know if she would have been happier if she didn’t do it.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross